Bulgarian Canadian pleads guilty in scheme to ship cocaine to Europe

CAMDEN, N.J. -- A 32-year-old Canadian man pleaded guilty today to attempting to distribute and possession with intent to distribute cocaine in a scheme where he planned to have a yacht stolen and loaded with drugs before shipping it off to Europe.

Rossen Ivanov, a Canadian citizen but native of Bulgaria, was arrested in April of 2007 when Special Agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement after an investigation that began when Ivanov was began engaging in various business transactions with two men in November of 2006 who would subsequently introduce him to an undercover law enforcement officer (UC) .

After discussing the plan to buy a stolen yacht, fill it with drugs and ship it across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe to be sold, Ivanov was introduced to "Dave Melendez," who was the UC, and on April 13, 2007, the UC showed Ivanov a yacht at a Burlington County boatyard that was supposedly stolen. Later that day, Ivanov gave the UC $360,000 in cash as a down payment.

On April 20, 2007, Ivanov met again with the UC and gave him an additional $60,000 and reaffirmed plans to move forward with the transaction. At the conclusion of this meeting, Ivanov was arrested and charged.